As they trailed 20-14 in a classic against Warrington Wolves, the Catalans Dragons thought they had pulled themselves level again.
With mere minutes left on the clock, Arthur Romano’s second looked set to send the game between the competition’s two best teams after seven rounds to Golden Point extra time.
However, the try was somewhat controversially disallowed.
It came from a kick that was patted back by Tom Johnstone with Romano on hand to score.
However, much to the disdain of the home fans, the try was disallowed.
But why?
Well Phil Clarke explained the decision on Sky Sports saying that the chasers, not Johnstone, were offside and inside the 10 metres where the challenge between Johnstone and Matt Dufty took place.
He said:
“I think it is the correct decision isn’t it? The chasing players if they’re offside, can’t be within 10 metres of where the ball was caught and several of them were, Mickael Goudemand was one so they were already offside.”
This came after Clarke explained why the Dragons were given a penalty try in the first half:
“Well I think he makes contact with the attacking player before he has the chance to pick up the ball and in the opinion of the referee he would have picked up that ball and scored if not for the interference.”
Jamie Jones-Buchanan echoed those views:
“I’d agree. The rules are the rules.”
